IKEA Birmingham — Local services in Walsall

IKEA is a place I always forget about; however, needing a new cupboard / storage solution, my wife suggested IKEA, so we measured what needed measuring and off we went.

Due to Covid requirements, to enter the store they are operating a traffic light system at the entrance, and have barriers set-up for queuing. Whilst this make sense it is not great if the weather is cold and wet, as it was when we went, or you have children with you in that weather, again as we did due to having our 12 year old and 4 year old autistic grandson, so my wife jumped out and joined the queue so I could park and meet her when closer to the entrance; further, entry is the same for all and as a disabled person who can not stand or walk great, this is an issue as it would be for all!.

Once in the store they are operating a one way system with arrows on the floor, but I am ashamed to say that there was still a great number of persons who went against this making it harder to browse and causing very close groups of people, against the advise of the government, and there was no security around or staff to monitor this and correct.

Overall IKEA has a great range and offering, allowing for peace of mind pertaining to quality. We were spoilt for choice with what we wanted, although at first we did think we would not get anything, due to the unique sizing required - then we turned a corner and ta-da all was good in the world and we found what we wanted!! As we progressed round the store we even managed to see and obtain a desk and chair for our son (the chair was a perfect colour match for my son's room), as well as a few other odds and sods we could do with.

Having taken a picture of what we wanted with the locations, we proceeded down, located and grabbed what we wanted with ease As a thought to chuck on the table, It would be better / easier if they had some paper and a pencil / pen to write item locations down, or even better, would be an electronic device that not only gives the locations, but also shows real-time stock. This could even be expanded on, so items are picked and ready for you straight away once you get to the item location area / tills.

Overall IKEA and our visit, plus all visits have been great, allowing us to see plenty of options for our requirements and I would recommend IKEA to anyone, who has transport, and big enough for passengers and products, who wants great quality items that can be personalized or changed easily, with there products

My final thought, as well as what I have already said; would be if IKEA offered on-line ordering for collection from store and even better would be delivery at a reasonable cost as it is currently about £40 minimum!!...

Dead plants, damaged furniture and worst of all. BREEZEMOUNT.

We purchased a two seater tifonder sofa and had it delivered, BREEZEMOUNT delivered, wedged it in our front door, Scratched the hell out of the door damaged the hinge (which we found out later) intimidated my wife into signing the delivery note who was home alone and left!!!!!!! Leaving my pregnant wife to sort it out.

The Birmingham store manager and the customer service team in Peterborough were less than helpful, both seem incapable of comprehending our concerns and not the least bit interested in our complaint, Birmingham referred us to the BREEZEMOUNT manager who was more interested in starting a conversation about the local pubs in our area???! Whilst the customer service team offered a bewildering offer to remove the sofa, provide a refund of less than the sofas original purchase price and no discussion on repairs for damaged caused?!?

The issue dragged on and on and ON (over a month with phone calls to them daily), with our landlord becoming more confrontational with us to repair the damage done to his property. I requested ikea pay for the damage done and collect the furniture that they'd damaged forwarding on the concerns from our landlord and ikea kept only attempting to issue a refund for the furniture with the statement "we'll look into the issue and refund for the damage at a later date" this was obviously unacceptable so we declined and kept the complaint active.

We had to turn BREEZEMOUNT away twice as they wanted to collect the sofa without issuing any refund.

The issue became so monotonous and repetitive that we had no other choice but escalated it to the lady in charge of Ikea uk. We sent an email stating all the above and bizarrely the very next day we received a call from ikea Birmingham offering a full apology for the distress caused and a offer full the full value of the sofa and for the full repairs.........strange.

Now, you could think, don't buy a sofa that is larger than your door.........and I would agree, had we not; less than two months earlier purchased the larger version of the same sofa and BREEZEMOUNT managed to get that through the without any issue.

Don't expect much from this store and expect even less should you encounter any problems and Be prepared to fight tooth and claw to get...

Let’s face it, IKEA isn’t just a shop anymore, it’s practically a day out. On this occasion, I visited with my 5 month old, looking at things I might need to get as he grows up, I.e high chair, mini utensils for fine motor skills etc.

Upon arriving, I was easily able to grab a parent and child spot. It takes us about 45 minutes down the M5 so I knew we’d need to do an immediate nappy change (I wasn’t wrong!) Now, I might have missed it but I only spotted a sign for a baby change unit within the toilets themselves and not a separate unit. Because of this, I took him into the ladies and tried to change him. The pushchair ended up blocking 2 of the cubicles (good job it wasn’t busy) and it wasn’t long before he found the announcements and the hand dryers just too much and was getting very upset. I want to say it took about 15-20 minutes to change his nappy and outfit with all the picking up and reassuring. Next time, I’ll definitely look and see if there’s a dedicated changing room at the entrance!

We stopped off at the restaurant for a bite to eat. I used my Family Card for a free hot drink, got a banana for free and only paid for some fries and some Daim cake (a must when stopping at the restaurant). I was easily and comfortably able to breastfeed my baby whilst I ate.

It was once I finished in the restaurant and visited the toilets that I saw a dedicated baby change with a comfy space for breastfeeding - thank you! Facilities were clean and tidy. One staff member kindly pointed out where the baby change was for me, even though I was looking for the disabled toilet, and once I was leaving the toilet, another staff member could see me struggling with the pram and the door and kindly helped me out.

After one final feed, and grabbing one last item from the bargain corner, we were there for 3.5 hours. The little one had clearly had enough. Trouble is, there’s no real shortcut to getting...